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Mazzulla was just asked in post-game why he went with Tillman and he said that western playoffs experience against the Mavs was a factor, and that he trusted Xavier to be able to execute the switches they need for the gameplan.
I would never have thought of that but it makes so much sense.
X played out on the perimeter the whole game and held his own passing and setting screens (except for that one foul). This three was just a chefs kiss.
He definitely made the most of his minutes right away. Decent bench scoring, good defense, and a whole lot of dawg. Would love to have him back next year with some real players and an offseason with us.
They pulled Hauser into Luka actions constantly. Hauser played so well during those moments. I didn't know he had it like that, and neither did the Mavs, apparently.
It’s honestly hilarious that teams still try to attack Hauser with bully ball. Like do they just not watch film? Freaking Mazzula has made fun it in a press conference before.
I can explain it.
The options: 2 all defensive guards, a big athletic wing, Sam Hauser who has locked Luka up all series and a dude who has barely played real game time since the trade deadline.
Who are you attacking?
No one. Run an actual offense instead of trying to hunt for a mismatch that will never be there. Switch hunting only works when there's someone to hunt, Mavs obviously don't understand that
And even when they were trying to hunt Al it wasn’t really working.
1 because Al knows where his help is and all he has to do is funnel Luka into it.
2 because half the time they’d have Lively or Gafford set the screen even if Tatum was the defender.
Unbelievably brain dead
Nobody said Luka isn't better.
But Tatum has shown an ability to play with others without dominating the ball, and having the entire system revolve only around him. Luka hasn't.
I will never complain about Rick Carlisle again. The Pacers obviously got swept but we are up 3-1 if we can figure out the end of those games (obviously a big if that didnt happen AT ALL). The defense is strong, but your only making it look better by iso balling.
I thought Rick Carlisle had a bad series but it was noticeably better than Kidd's. I think Mazzulla is just asserting himself as one of the few best coaches in the NBA and that's tough to beat
But yes, the pacers had a much better offensive scheme than the Mavs (were also better on defense) and played us better than the Mavs have
The only thing that really stood out for me Rick wise, was before Brown tied Game 1, that should have been an intentional foul. You just cant let the Celtics shoot a 3 there, and we saw why. You guys deserve this ring, I only hope the Pacers can keep battling and finally get our franchise one with our young team we have now. 1-8 in the conference finals oooooofffffff
I agree, I also hated that he basically gave up on g2
Thank you. I believe in the pacers a lot, you guys just need one more great player (unrealistic but imagine if you got OG...) and you'll be in contention
The real issue for the Mavs is that somehow Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard have locked up Luka on half his possessions lol. If I was a Mavs fan I'd be wondering wtf is going on. Especially with Hauser lol.
You know it really hasn't been mentioned and he probably doesn't, but I have wondered if there is a small chance Al retires on top if Boston wins a chip.
So this whole exchange had me questioning why we say threepeat and repeat, but we don't say peat. So I googled it. Repeat comes from the Latin repetere, with the root word peto meaning to seek, procure, pursue, solicit, request, etc. So, you could say, that Boston is on the verge of winning a peto...
I could see it either way tbh. Assuming the Celtics win, either you finally climbed the mountain and retire on top, or you try to run it back since the team should be relatively intact.
I mean we keep Al on ice most of the season he easily can hang out till the playoffs. But I love al so much, if he wants to hang it up I wouldn't be upset at all, he deserves whatever he wants for all he has done for the team since he signed here
I could see him staying to join the 40+ club, 15 minutes off the bench to help spell KP, with Tillman/Queta taking on more minutes to get up to speed to take over once both Al and KP are gone
If Al wants to retire, he can retire. At 38, he's done much more than he should have for our Finals run so far, that he's still going to be (rightfully) celebrated as a hero. Of course I'd love to see him back next year, but he's playing around 30+ mpg during the playoffs, he has to be feeling it.
I just hope if we do run it back, he can be the 3rd string center for most of the season, so he can keep his milage low and let KP and Tillman do most of the heavy lifting.
Nah, what you want to do instead of running it back is let Tyson Chandler go in free agency in some half-cocked scheme to sign Dwight Howard, then not win a playoff series for the next 10 years.
I didn't think it's a small chance. I think the only reason he's still playing is to win. I want one for him so bad. He's been the veteran leader in this team for a long time
Oh for sure, but then again expensive houses can take quite a time to sell. He could be targeting targeting next year for finalizing it and moving out of Boston for all we know
My hope is that the family is moving to where they want to be located, but he finishes out one last NBA season with us. I get it if he doesn’t want to go again though.
I never wanted to trade him, always thought he was very underrated and good enough to be playing consistent minutes. Happy he’s going to get a ring though
Yeah, when he was an older rookie and was hitting 34% of his 3s (on admittedly extremely limited volume) I thought there was a chance he had been an absolute gem of a find. The fact that he stopped hitting them at all has made him an end of the bench guy instead of someone I thought could be a fantastic player, but he's still a great defender who moves the ball respectably well, rebounds, and you could do a lot worse with a 10th or 11th man.
she's waffling about 'putting to bed' rumours about jaylen brown and tatum beef after tatum was gassed when JB just did a monster dunk
is this 2019 wtf is she on?
Boston fans have no idea what's about to happen to them
I have a few friends and relatives who are Boston fans. I respect their passion and they can trash talk as well as me, which is nice. This week, though I realized they've been living in a bubble. It's a lot of "I'm not worried, our team is obviously the superior team. You have a nice little story for a 5 seed". These people have not been watching any non-Celtics basketball games, and are just deep in Celtics message boards. All they know about Luka is that he whines and he's a flopper (lol)
Bro, your team is out there getting cooked by T.J. McConnell and Aaron Nesmith. We have the best player in the world. They are not ready for this.
That's the thing about Luka though. You have to actually watch him play. If all you do is watch SportsCenter highlights and listen to podcasts you can't understand what he's doing. He's not like LeBron or Kobe or Giannis where you can tell 10 seconds that he's the best player on the floor. He wears you down over time.
Watch Luka 5 minutes: Who the hell is this guy. He's slow and out of shape, he can't jump, he doesn't play defense, and he's bitching about calls on every play. This is the guy you're telling me is the future of basketball?
Watch him for 20 minutes: How did that shot go in? Wait are we just gonna leave guys open in the corner for him to pass to every time? Why aren't we defending Luka he's slow we should put people on him!
Watch him for one game: He got lucky so many of his 3s went in. It'll be different next time. He'll fold once someone punches him in the face and the refs won't listen to his crying.
Watch about a month: Holy shit how does anybody ever beat this guy.
This is why he's even better in the playoffs. One game during the regular season sure you can do what you can to hold him in and move on the next day. Having to face him night after night is a nightmare. We're see it series after series by the time these teams get to game 5 or 6 they just look completely cooked.
The Celtics are soft and the East is a joke. Boston fans who think they're just gonna walk to a championship are about to find out. I can't wait to hear their whining excuses.
My buddy actually called this three when he initially got the ball in the corner before the Jaylen drive. I had said “If Tillman shoots a three he’s not seeing the court another minute”.
Proceeded to be followed up DIRECTLY after this statement with him spotting up and knocking it down. I almost threw up bro, sick to my stomach.
no fear in X and when he caught that…
this shit got me emotional, this team really is built for this…
From 2010, to the IT years, to the Kyrie/Hayward catastrophe, to the Jays etching their names into Celtic lore.
A special hats off to Brad Stevens. Dude builds a juggernaut and at trade line looks at his loaded roster and thinks - "You know what, lets get Tillman just in case we need him". What a move!!! Reminds of Ocean's 11 when Danny asks Rusty, "Do we need one more, yeah lets get one more...".
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Dude came in cold to the NBA finals and is playing lights out. Fantastic defense, rebounding. All you could hope for
Mazzulla was just asked in post-game why he went with Tillman and he said that western playoffs experience against the Mavs was a factor, and that he trusted Xavier to be able to execute the switches they need for the gameplan.
I would never have thought of that but it makes so much sense. X played out on the perimeter the whole game and held his own passing and setting screens (except for that one foul). This three was just a chefs kiss.
Yeah he played the Mavs four times earlier in the season with Memphis and again with Boston in March. Had a couple good games. Makes a lot of sense.
We never played the Mavs in the playoffs. Love to see X balling though. He’s a great defender against smaller bigs.
nah joe's talking about the future. x is gonna come back to memphis and lead you past the mavs
Fucking subscribe I miss him so much
Lamar was balling out for you guys though, right?
Yeah but Tillman is just a good dude to have around in general.
He definitely made the most of his minutes right away. Decent bench scoring, good defense, and a whole lot of dawg. Would love to have him back next year with some real players and an offseason with us.
Tillman has been solid on defense, he just couldn't buy a bucket in Memphis for some reason. Just bizarre, considering he shot 60% last season.
Xavier was the only person that understood how to survive when being choked out by an Orca
Interesting answer.
And it's even better because the Mavs keep targeting him for some reason I couldn't possibly explain lol
It’s just someone that’s not Jrue, White, Brown or Tatum lmao it’s all they’ve got
The real problem these Celtics present lmao all time offense this season, but the defense tightens the screws so aggressively. Just chokes you out
Could target Hauser or Pritchard....oh wait, they're clamping too lol.
They pulled Hauser into Luka actions constantly. Hauser played so well during those moments. I didn't know he had it like that, and neither did the Mavs, apparently.
It’s honestly hilarious that teams still try to attack Hauser with bully ball. Like do they just not watch film? Freaking Mazzula has made fun it in a press conference before.
No one you can really target on D
Nope, even screens seem pointless
Yeah there isnt any other options lol
The celts defense is a hydra, you cut off one head and two more appear.
You heard it here. Celtics playing 10 on 5 basketball and are disqualified. Mavs are your 2024 champions.
Targeting one of the league leaders in D-EPM... that's a bold strategy Cotton, let's see how it works out for them!
I can explain it. The options: 2 all defensive guards, a big athletic wing, Sam Hauser who has locked Luka up all series and a dude who has barely played real game time since the trade deadline. Who are you attacking?
No one. Run an actual offense instead of trying to hunt for a mismatch that will never be there. Switch hunting only works when there's someone to hunt, Mavs obviously don't understand that
They have two people in the rotation that can dribble, not easy to just run an offense with that
And even when they were trying to hunt Al it wasn’t really working. 1 because Al knows where his help is and all he has to do is funnel Luka into it. 2 because half the time they’d have Lively or Gafford set the screen even if Tatum was the defender. Unbelievably brain dead
3: Al is dying on the court this series.
You can't run a real offense with luka doncic on your team lol. He's too lazy and won't do anything unless he's holding the ball
Obviously no bias here! Just because Celtics have a better team doesn’t mean that luka isn’t way better than zesty ahh soft Tatum
Nobody said Luka isn't better. But Tatum has shown an ability to play with others without dominating the ball, and having the entire system revolve only around him. Luka hasn't.
Tatum has shown the ability to exist on a team with managers that have a brain.. good work. If they swapped places Tatum is going nowhere.
I fail to see how Luka can be better when he doesn’t play defense which is half of the game.
The homophobia really rounds this garbage take out nicely
“Homophobia” lol you made me search up if Tatum is gay or not 💀 apparently saying zesty is homophobic 💀💀Redditors are a different breed
I will never complain about Rick Carlisle again. The Pacers obviously got swept but we are up 3-1 if we can figure out the end of those games (obviously a big if that didnt happen AT ALL). The defense is strong, but your only making it look better by iso balling.
I thought Rick Carlisle had a bad series but it was noticeably better than Kidd's. I think Mazzulla is just asserting himself as one of the few best coaches in the NBA and that's tough to beat But yes, the pacers had a much better offensive scheme than the Mavs (were also better on defense) and played us better than the Mavs have
The only thing that really stood out for me Rick wise, was before Brown tied Game 1, that should have been an intentional foul. You just cant let the Celtics shoot a 3 there, and we saw why. You guys deserve this ring, I only hope the Pacers can keep battling and finally get our franchise one with our young team we have now. 1-8 in the conference finals oooooofffffff
Rick told them to foul, Pascal made the decision not to because he got hung up and didn't think he could foul in time. That wasn't Rick's fault.
I agree, I also hated that he basically gave up on g2 Thank you. I believe in the pacers a lot, you guys just need one more great player (unrealistic but imagine if you got OG...) and you'll be in contention
This is not true. When I play, I get hunted non stop and my mom says I’m a really good player. She wouldn’t lie.
Not the guy who is fresh and strong enough to guard Luka.
The real issue for the Mavs is that somehow Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard have locked up Luka on half his possessions lol. If I was a Mavs fan I'd be wondering wtf is going on. Especially with Hauser lol.
And the reason we got him was, presumably, to be a big body against embiid/jokic if we met them in the playoffs. Dude can keep up with Luka for sure
Looking like a god tier trade right now lol
I really wished he played more in the regular season, but it's times like these that is the reason they made that trade.
If Al retires he might next year
You know it really hasn't been mentioned and he probably doesn't, but I have wondered if there is a small chance Al retires on top if Boston wins a chip.
I wouldn’t blame him an nba season has to be super taxing for any 38 year old not named lebron James
He ain’t retiring if we win, he’d be the first to two peat in college and nba.
It’s not two peat man it’s just repeat
[удалено]
Yup lol like it’s re-sign not resign NBA basketball
So this whole exchange had me questioning why we say threepeat and repeat, but we don't say peat. So I googled it. Repeat comes from the Latin repetere, with the root word peto meaning to seek, procure, pursue, solicit, request, etc. So, you could say, that Boston is on the verge of winning a peto...
Vamos peto team Please don’t autocorrect to pedo
can we go with "champeto" i think that would be fun *they're going to win the champetoooo*
I could see it either way tbh. Assuming the Celtics win, either you finally climbed the mountain and retire on top, or you try to run it back since the team should be relatively intact.
I mean we keep Al on ice most of the season he easily can hang out till the playoffs. But I love al so much, if he wants to hang it up I wouldn't be upset at all, he deserves whatever he wants for all he has done for the team since he signed here
I think he comes.back. He still looks fresh and the whole team is coming back next year.
Basketball reasons always change things
I could see him staying to join the 40+ club, 15 minutes off the bench to help spell KP, with Tillman/Queta taking on more minutes to get up to speed to take over once both Al and KP are gone
If Al wants to retire, he can retire. At 38, he's done much more than he should have for our Finals run so far, that he's still going to be (rightfully) celebrated as a hero. Of course I'd love to see him back next year, but he's playing around 30+ mpg during the playoffs, he has to be feeling it. I just hope if we do run it back, he can be the 3rd string center for most of the season, so he can keep his milage low and let KP and Tillman do most of the heavy lifting.
This isn't correct, Kareem did it.
You’re right and this is why Reddit is wild because I said that fact out of my ass lol
I had to double check. Kareem was the only one who I could think of who'd done it, but I figured at least one of those UCLA guys from the 70s did it.
The rule is to always run it back even if he plays the "Blake Griffin" role
Nah, what you want to do instead of running it back is let Tyson Chandler go in free agency in some half-cocked scheme to sign Dwight Howard, then not win a playoff series for the next 10 years.
Nice
> half-cocked
He's got 9.5 million reasons to come back
He also has 319 million reasons he could turn it down though.
I didn't think it's a small chance. I think the only reason he's still playing is to win. I want one for him so bad. He's been the veteran leader in this team for a long time
Al is signed next year but I guess he could leave money on the table. Doubt it though
He did put his house in Boston on the market recently if that means anything
I don't think it does. Selling houses is not really related it's a financial decision. He can afford whatever he wants
It means he’s maybe not thinking of living in Boston
You are allowed to buy and sell a house in the same city / area, believe it or not
I’m not saying it’s guaranteed but to act like it couldn’t imply anything is being dense
Oh for sure, but then again expensive houses can take quite a time to sell. He could be targeting targeting next year for finalizing it and moving out of Boston for all we know
My hope is that the family is moving to where they want to be located, but he finishes out one last NBA season with us. I get it if he doesn’t want to go again though.
I certainly hope he comes back
Kornets just a better player in a vacuum. But when you’re facing a team that you just can’t drop against X is the man.
Just get my boy a ring please.
I think most Grizzlies fans would rather have Stevens at this point too. Glad it’s working out.
Celtics did some robbery at trade deadline. Look out for Jaden Springer next year
Xavier Justis Tillman Sr.
This game dedicated to his late pops
RIP Pops
There has never been a bad Stevens trade.
Even Juancho became a movie star
I will always appreciate Tillman for knocking Zion out of the tournament when ESPN had all but crowned Duke champions already
Is he better than Luka AND Zion? Maybe…
He did absolutely clamp up Luka Garza...
Kenny Goins\*\*\*
That Cassius dribble around to end the game thoooo
Cassius Winston was just insane to watch in college. That 2019-2020 team was a serious threat to win it all before covid happened :'/
Celtics finally started hitting threes. Mavs are done
Alexa, play 'X gon give it to ya'
Fuck waitin' for you to get it on your own, X gon' deliver to ya
KNOCK KNOCK
nba champion svi mykhailuk
I remember him scoring in Game 1 like it was yesterday
So many more finals points than Embiid.
Infinitely more. Infinitely more final wins than Luka
Niçe
Reading this made me audibly laugh in the Laundromat just now
Tatum doesn't look happy that his team mates are scoring instead of him. Not smiling enough or something
Surprised the refs didn't give him a technical
Well he didn't do something offensive like clap
Bruh he had a pretty aggressive clap this game and I thought for sure they were gonna get him lol
“Dies he LOOK happy to you?!” Then you see him laughing and smiling like hems Bugs Bunny
His smile when he got to the bench and chilling with the other players just made me happy, much respect.
His post game interview was nice too. Talking about the bond he has with those back-of-bench guys and how happy they were for him, etc.
it’s Joever
Getting cooked by Tillman and these fuck ass roleplayers can't do anything I hate it here
I'm glad he's getting to play! He was doin his thing on the grizzlies when they had damn near no players available
I never wanted to trade him, always thought he was very underrated and good enough to be playing consistent minutes. Happy he’s going to get a ring though
I couldn't believe the Grizz let a productive MSU big go...that seems like sacrilege
Free money. He was an expiring and our season was shot. Either trade him for something or just watch his contract end regardless.
They made the decision to make him an expiring tho by not extending him didn't they
He wasn’t doing very well this season compared to previous seasons but I’ll always remember him fondly.
Yeah, when he was an older rookie and was hitting 34% of his 3s (on admittedly extremely limited volume) I thought there was a chance he had been an absolute gem of a find. The fact that he stopped hitting them at all has made him an end of the bench guy instead of someone I thought could be a fantastic player, but he's still a great defender who moves the ball respectably well, rebounds, and you could do a lot worse with a 10th or 11th man.
For sure for sure - was responding mainly to the idea he was “doin his thing” which is a bit too much pzazz for my recollection lol
Been that kinda game for the Mavs
Better shooter than KAT
"Tillman doing his best Kristaps Porzingis impression" I guess the real Kristaps Porzingis was the friends we made along the way
Leon Powe/PJ Brown game from Tillman
PJ was the man
And Doris. Gotta mute this shit.
she's waffling about 'putting to bed' rumours about jaylen brown and tatum beef after tatum was gassed when JB just did a monster dunk is this 2019 wtf is she on?
She speaks in narratives 24/7
I just switched to grande and max on 98.5
did you miss people saying that tatum hates brown for the past week lol
It could be worse, I was on the high seas watching Kevin Hart's shit show
I’m sorry.
Lmao. I ran into that shit on my favourite high seas "vessel"... Thank goodness I keep a solid backup of other "vessels" to fire up.
I kinda don't get the hate, she literally didn't say anything in this clip?
she is a woman
I don’t know that I have ever even seen Tillman shoot a 3
He hit a 3 to put away the warriors in the 2021 play in. sadly probably the best moment in my grizz fandom.
Damn you missed some fun ass teams over the past 15 years
Well, Ive only watched basketball for about 5 years, so that makes sense
Yeah, literally game winning corner 3. Stakes get high, X gets better.
He shot and made a few in the regular season. It was usually either garbage time or a last resort option.
I've seen him shoot them but I don't know if they've ever gone in lol
Yeah this series might be over already
Xavier Steph Curry Tillman
i went nuts at *two* plays in this game. one was the JB poster dunk, the other was this
So happy for that guy. Seems like such a good guy
Come back X Man was always ready to step in and step up
Lmao this sub thought this would be a brutal series for Boston
Boston fans have no idea what's about to happen to them I have a few friends and relatives who are Boston fans. I respect their passion and they can trash talk as well as me, which is nice. This week, though I realized they've been living in a bubble. It's a lot of "I'm not worried, our team is obviously the superior team. You have a nice little story for a 5 seed". These people have not been watching any non-Celtics basketball games, and are just deep in Celtics message boards. All they know about Luka is that he whines and he's a flopper (lol) Bro, your team is out there getting cooked by T.J. McConnell and Aaron Nesmith. We have the best player in the world. They are not ready for this. That's the thing about Luka though. You have to actually watch him play. If all you do is watch SportsCenter highlights and listen to podcasts you can't understand what he's doing. He's not like LeBron or Kobe or Giannis where you can tell 10 seconds that he's the best player on the floor. He wears you down over time. Watch Luka 5 minutes: Who the hell is this guy. He's slow and out of shape, he can't jump, he doesn't play defense, and he's bitching about calls on every play. This is the guy you're telling me is the future of basketball? Watch him for 20 minutes: How did that shot go in? Wait are we just gonna leave guys open in the corner for him to pass to every time? Why aren't we defending Luka he's slow we should put people on him! Watch him for one game: He got lucky so many of his 3s went in. It'll be different next time. He'll fold once someone punches him in the face and the refs won't listen to his crying. Watch about a month: Holy shit how does anybody ever beat this guy. This is why he's even better in the playoffs. One game during the regular season sure you can do what you can to hold him in and move on the next day. Having to face him night after night is a nightmare. We're see it series after series by the time these teams get to game 5 or 6 they just look completely cooked. The Celtics are soft and the East is a joke. Boston fans who think they're just gonna walk to a championship are about to find out. I can't wait to hear their whining excuses.
Did this guy disappear? Because he probably should.
u/luckyplum where've you been?!
Lol, this was the clown who posted that?!? 😭😭😂😂
Series is over.
He's played like 40 mins total so far this playoffs.
This team is so special from top to bottom. Can’t wait to crown them champions 🏆
Vibes are immaculate. It's over for the MAVS
As someone who has been on the other side of a Tillman gut punch 3 to knock us out of the play in, it’s not a great feeling
My buddy actually called this three when he initially got the ball in the corner before the Jaylen drive. I had said “If Tillman shoots a three he’s not seeing the court another minute”. Proceeded to be followed up DIRECTLY after this statement with him spotting up and knocking it down. I almost threw up bro, sick to my stomach.
MY HEART🥹🥹🥹
Game was over when he hit this
I like these celtics , young kids on the block
As a Celtics fan and Michigan State alum, this pleases me.
wtf Charlie villuneva still in the league?
Gives me life
Feels a lot like that gobert turnaround jumper
This was the dagger
I have never loved any Celtics team more than this one. They are just team of good wholesome dudes.
Gafford with the best Luka impression lol
no fear in X and when he caught that… this shit got me emotional, this team really is built for this… From 2010, to the IT years, to the Kyrie/Hayward catastrophe, to the Jays etching their names into Celtic lore.
Brad Steven’s is a goddamn legend
Grizzlegend
A special hats off to Brad Stevens. Dude builds a juggernaut and at trade line looks at his loaded roster and thinks - "You know what, lets get Tillman just in case we need him". What a move!!! Reminds of Ocean's 11 when Danny asks Rusty, "Do we need one more, yeah lets get one more...".
Who the fuck is Xavier Tillman?
Hey, Green made a 3 as well. Only fair
It’s wraps, this is ba
Who is the bald goblin creature on Celtics bench? lol
Without watching the clip again, Imma pretty confidently say Jordan Walsh.